It is later. When I wrote on Tuesday, things were slow. Things hadn't really gotten started but I thought it was all my fault. I was being narrow minded thinking that the week starts on Monday. This week clearly started on Wednesday. It has been a flurry of positive activity since then.

Wednesday

Wednesday hosted a Welcome reception under the great dome, the first real orientation even. Although initially I felt like I looked or acted a little young, it went very well. After some initial hesitation, in my usual fashion, I met a lot of cool people and realized I wasn't so alone, wasn't so different.

The next event that night was at a bar. Some people I had left the reception with said they were planning on going. When I arrived at first I had a very young and out of place feeling again, but just as I was going to leave, the people from earlier showed up and we had a good time. I met some new people there as well, and then when I might have turned in, Monzy called me so I went to hang out with him at the other campus pub, where he works. More new friends. Still the first night I'd met anyone and already I was running into people I had met before.

Thursday

The first event of the day, quite early in the morning, was Media Lab orientation. I met the other student I will be working with as well as many other Media Lab students (including some I had already met). I did not see my advisor. I still have not been able to figure out if our group has a name or if we have space or what we do. Also, later I learned that I'm extremely bad at describing what the Media Lab in general does, so I'll have to work on that.

Next we headed straight over to the welcome address by several people. The keynote speaker had one of her students come in playing the bagpipes to illustrate diversity of extracurricular fun and activity. It made me a bit sad and nostalgic for CMU. Sitting outside on a spring afternoon as the sun is setting and hearing the sound of bagpipes drifting over the hills is something I will miss. Free lunch following the speech.

That night there was another reception, this one with real dinner. Slowly overcoming my fear of dress and socialization, I warmed up to being outgoing and friendly, more quickly than usual. I'm hoping this is a trend that will continue. I certainly feel more comfortable than ever before. I was able to walk around, mingling and talking to people I felt I knew somewhat by now. Along with a small group, including one of the organizers, we stayed talking well past the end before walking home.

Friday

Friday morning all new Media Lab students needed to take a writing test. It sucked, though I probably did ok. It involved a bunch of questions and then some writing. I wasn't sure ahead of time what it would be, and I especially didn't want to have to write anything, besides the obvious annoyance of having to take a test during orientation. I just did my best and got out early.

At night I went out to dinner with people from my dorm, Edgerton House. It was nice to finally meet some people living the same place as me. There were plenty of first-years which was good because since all the people I had been meeting were mostly living elsewhere, I thought there might not be many of us here. It was also nice to get out and walk around Boston. It was my first time in Boston itself, since returning to Massachusetts and my first time ever walking around the Italian neighborhoods of the North End.

Today

Today I went on a hike. That was all day. We left very early to get up to the White Mountains. There were three buses and several groups each, which went to all different places. My group was 8 people including the leader and they were all pretty cool. We hiked for about six hours. The trail we took was long and steep, tricker than most stuff I'd done. On the way up, I heard the person in front of me say "Ow," and I saw a bunch of bees around him as if a nest had been disturbed. He ran forward I ran backward to the rest of our group, but not before being stung once and then take some bees with me for two more stings. We ended up walking through the woods around the part of the trail with the bees. The only other eventful thing was when we were supposed to be back in 15 minutes we realized we probably had two miles still to do. Two of us ran on ahead. 40 minutes late, we informed the bus the others were behind. When our leader showed up ten minutes later, he sent the bus to pick up other groups before coming back for the rest of our group, which turned out to only be another ten minutes behind.

Other

Tomorrow moring I'm going running with people from this building. Along the way this week I finished unpacking all my stuff and even figured out grocery shopping. It is very convenient. As far as getting around goes, things are close enough that I don't feel like taking my bike. On the other hand it is a good distance that a Razor scooter would be an improvement over walking. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like they make the real ones any more. This makes me sad. Alright, I'm tired now and have plenty to do tomorrow. Goodnight, see you soon.